Data Scientist with Security Clearance

Overview Intelligent Waves is seeking a skilled and mission-driven Data Scientist to help transform complex data into actionable insights that support critical decision-making across national security, intelligence, and public sector initiatives. In this role, you will work closely with clients to understand their challenges, analyze diverse data environments, and develop machine learning solutions that deliver real-world impact. Leveraging your expertise in Python, natural language processing (NLP), and large language models (LLMs), you will create scalable solutions that turn fragmented data into meaningful answers. As a trusted advisor, you'll help shape the development of tools that address pressing global and national-level challenges. Intelligent Waves delivers mission-focused multi-domain operational expertise and innovation to the Government through high-impact technology solutions in cybersecurity, data science, enterprise network & systems engineering, software development, and cognitive human performance. ALWAYS READY. ANYTIME. ANYWHERE. ANY DOMAIN. Since 2006, we have proudly served federal agencies including the Department of Defense. Our ability to operate globally in a wide range of environments coupled with our deep understanding of customer needs and requirements enables us to provide cost-effective solutions to support the most complex missions. Travel: None Location: Onsite in Reston, VA initially, with the position expected to relocate to Ft. Belvoir in approximately one year. The selected candidate will work as part of a broader team to provide ongoing coverage and support throughout both phases. Security Clearance: Must be a United States Citizen and hold a current TS-SCI or TS with SCI eligibility security clearance. Adherence to all customer site protocols is mandatory for employees. Responsibilities Machine Learning & NLP Development Design, build, and refine machine learning models for tasks such as document classification, entity extraction, summarization, and semantic search.
Implement and optimize natural language processing (NLP) solutions using large language models (LLMs).
Develop end-to-end ML pipelines from data ingestion through model training, evaluation, and deployment into production environments.
Data Engineering & Infrastructure Integration Collaborate with data engineering teams to integrate ML models with existing pipelines and data lake architectures.
Manage workflows that operate on high-volume, streaming data sources (e.g., Kafka) and ensure scalability and reliability.
Maintain and troubleshoot deployed models in production systems that process large-scale document sets.
Data Analysis & Visualization Conduct deep data exploration and analysis to identify trends, anomalies, and actionable insights.
Clean and prepare complex, unstructured data for modeling and visualization.
Create visualizations and analytical reports to communicate findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Qualifications Required: 5+ years of experience in applied data science or machine learning roles, with strong Python skills and hands-on experience in natural language processing (NLP) and large language model (LLM) implementation
Experience designing, implementing, and iterating on ML models for document classification, data extraction, summarization, and search
Proven ability to implement end-to-end ML workflows-from data preparation to model deployment and performance evaluation
Experience owning and maintaining data science workflows within production systems that process large-scale, streaming document data
5+ years of experience in data exploration, data cleaning, analysis, visualization, or data mining
Familiarity with production-level systems, data lake environments, and streaming data platforms (e.g., Kafka)
Ability to quickly learn and adapt to infrastructure or system concepts (e.g., data pipeline integrations with data lakes)
Desired: Experience collaborating with MLOps and infrastructure engineers to ensure robust model deployment, monitoring, and retraining pipelines
Experience supporting platform components such as distributed storage (e.g. Cloudera), documents indexing/search, and GPU workloads
Experience in the development of algorithms leveraging R, Python, or SQL/NoSQL Experience with Distributed data/computing tools, including MapReduce, Hadoop, Hive, EMR, Spark, Gurobi, or MySQL Experience with visualization packages, including Plotly, Seaborn, or ggplot2 Bachelor's degree Since 2006, Intelligent Waves has remained committed to providing quality engineering, operations, and intelligence solutions to our clients and it all starts with YOU. Intelligent Waves provides a great and generous benefits package to include medical, dental and vision, paid PTO, life & disability packages. We also invest in our employees' futures by contributing with vesting starting from DAY 1, technical training, tuition bonuses, and much, much more. Clearance Statement Applicants selected for this position will be subject to a government security investigation and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information. Only US citizens are eligible for a security clearance. For this position, Intelligent Waves will consider only applicants with security clearances or applicants who are eligible for security clearances. EEO Statement Intelligent Waves LLC is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal opportunity to all applicants and employees in full compliance with all applicable state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, sex, religion, national origin, disability, military and/or veteran status, or any other class protected by applicable state or federal law. As an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer, IW is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified candidates and current employees. As part of this commitment, IW will ensure that those in need are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact . A Veteran Friendly Organization